중앙데일리

Basketball diplomacy resumes

남북 ‘농구 외교’ 재개

July 07,2018

Korea JoongAng DailyWednesday, July 4, 2018

Female basketball players from both Koreas compete against each other in Pyongyang Thursday as a North Korean audience looks on. The South Korean women’s basketball team beat the North 81-74, while the North beat the South 82-70 in the men’s game. [YONHAP]

A delegation of South Korean basketball players, government officials and journalists arrived in Pyongyang Tuesday for friendly basketball games with North Korea in the latest show of sports diplomacy between the two countries.

*delegation: 대표단 *friendly game: 친선 경기

남북 스포츠 외교의 일환으로 농구 친선 경기에 참석하는 농구선수, 관료, 기자 등 남한 대표단이 화요일 평양에 도착했다.

Some 101 South Koreans led by Cho Myoung-gyon, minister of unification, who oversees relations with the North, took two South Korean Air Force cargo planes from Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, south of Seoul, at 10 a.m. and landed at Pyongyang International Airport 70 minutes later, using an air route over the Yellow Sea. The athletes are mostly from South Korea’s men’s and women’s national basketball teams.

The two Koreas will swap players for two mixed competitions today and face off against each other in two friendly games tomorrow at the Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium in Pyongyang, the North’s capital. The South Korean delegation will stay at the Koryo Hotel.

The last friendly basketball game between the two Koreas was held in 2003. On June 18, during an inter-Korean meeting on sports, both countries agreed to hold friendly basketball games in Pyongyang and follow up with more games in Seoul this fall.

The idea to hold a friendly basketball game this year was initially floated by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, an avid fan of the sport, during his first summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 27.